Four foreign hostages abducted in Nigeria's volatile Niger Delta region within the last month have been freed. A BBC correspondent says the sudden release of the British oil worker, Dutch security manager and two Lebanese construction workers was a surprise. Nearly 70 foreigners have been kidnapped this year in the oil-rich but impoverished southern Nigerian area. Their release means no hostages are currently being held in the Delta ahead of elections due later this month. However, Chinese hostages snatched from a car assembly plant in the south-eastern town of Nnewi in nearby Anambra State, are still being held. There is speculation that the release may be connected to the elections. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk

Violent thunderstorms battered a three-state region with hail as big as softballs and wind that damaged several homes and caused power outages.The storms that hit Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee marked the leading edge of a mass of cold air that dropped temperatures Wednesday morning into the 20s in the central Plains and upper Midwest.No tornadoes were confirmed during the storms Tuesday night, but strong wind heavily damaged three homes in Tennessee's Cumberland County, authorities said.The storm damaged the roof of the emergency entrance at the Appalachian Regional Hospital in Harlan, Ky., and emergency room patients were moved to another part of the hospital until the storm was over, Dan Moseley, a spokesman for the Harlan County judge-executive, said Wednesday. No one was injured....http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,263943,00.html

The Thai government blocked access to the popular YouTube video website Wednesday saying a short film it features insults the country's beloved monarch.Blocking access to YouTube was part of the military-installed government's move to shut down any websites deemed insulting to the king, and authorities will crack down on more, said Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom, the minister of information and technology.Sitthichai said YouTube was blocked Wednesday morning after its owner Google turned down his request to remove the contentious Web page, which features a 44-second clip showing graffitti-like elements painted over a slideshow of photographs of 79-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej.One part of the clip juxtaposes pictures of feet over the king's image — a major cultural taboo for Thais since feet are considered extremely dirty and offensive. The soundtrack is the Thai National anthem....http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2007-04-04-thailand-youtube_N.htm?csp=34

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) raised at least $25 million in the first quarter of 2007, his campaign said on Wednesday, just shy of front-runner Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton who took in $26 million. Obama, who has served only two years in the U.S. Senate and eight years in the Illinois state Senate, has trailed in some early opinion polls behind his colleague from New York, who on Sunday shattered previous party fund-raising records....http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070404/pl_nm/usa_politics_obama_dc

It took a Coast Guard helicopter to rescue a man and his pet cockatoo from the heights of a pine tree after he got stuck trying retrieve the $2,000 bird.William Hart, 35, had climbed about 60 feet up the tree to get the bird after it escaped from its cage and flew out a bedroom window. Television video showed him standing on a branch Tuesday evening awaiting rescue, the exotic white bird apparently tucked under his shirt.The bird, Geronimo, got out after Hart’s daughter apparently forgot to latch his cage after feeding him, Hart told the Houston Chronicle. He said he spotted Geronimo in flight and chased him, then climbed the tree until the cockatoo flew to his arm. ...http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17946049/

Brussels has given airlines and national governments six months to make sure passengers get proper compensation for delayed or cancelled flights. For the last two years, airlines should have been paying passengers up to 600 euros (£400) for a cancelled flight. However, the European Commission says passengers are often not informed of their rights, and thousands each year say they have not received payouts. The commission is threatening legal action unless the law is made to work. It will be carrying out its own checks at airports over the next six months. "We must make sure that airlines and member states fully comply with their obligations," said Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot. An independent study prepared for the European Commission found that passengers whose flight left up to 30 hours late were sometimes being compensated according to the rules for a delay rather than a cancellation....http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6525859.stm